New mayor to be appointed

Mesquite City Council members will appoint a "competent person" to fill Mark Wier's seat as mayor tonight at 5 p.m. in City Hall, 10 E. Mesquite Blvd.

Wier announced at the April 22 meeting his last day as mayor would be May 12. Per Nevada Revised Statute 266, the council must fill the seat at the next regular city council member by appointing "some competent person."

This person could be one of the current city council members or a member of the public.

If a current city councilman is selected staff will be directed to begin the process of picking someone to fill the councilman's seat.

The council will also look at overriding Wier's approval of the Hafen Park splash pad April 23. During the April 22 Geno Withelder, Al Litman and Rich Green voted against awarding a bid to Mesquite business, Trade West Construction. Councilmen Kraig Hafen and George Rapson voted to award the bid.

Litman, Withelder and Green voiced their concerns about spending so much money on a project when Litman's research had shown similar splash pads across the country that were built for a fraction of what Mesquite was about to pay.

Less than 24 hours after the majority of council denied the bid and Wier announced his resignation Wier overturned the decision, awarding the nearly $1 million dollar project to Trade West Construction.

In Wier's letter explaining his veto he said he believes the project is good for the community.

"It may very well be we are paying substantially higher wages due to the fact that we live in Clark County, Nevada," Wier's letter says.

Wier's veto isn't the final say so, however. Even if council doesn't overturn the veto with the four votes needed to negate the veto, the bid is hanging on whether Housing and Urban Development approves the city to move forward with a single bid for the project. If not, the city will have to rebid the project, again, and hope at least two bidders show up.

In other business there will be a public hearing on Ordinance No. 481, which, if passed by council, would make it a criminal offense to be in the city's parks from midnight to 4 a.m. and would ban all alcohol from parks unless granted permission from the city for a special event.

There is time for public comment at the beginning and end of each meeting.